Illuminare, Jerusalem was written for the choir of King's College, Cambridge, and first performed by them in the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols on Christmas Eve 1985. The text, in medieval Scots, is taken from an anonymous 15th-century manuscript. The refrain refers to Isiah chapter 60, familiar from Handel's Messiah: "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee".